"If Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Case Is a ‘Non-Issue,’ Why Have Media Gone to Such Lengths to Silence Him? Philadelphia public broadcaster WHYY (4/24/21) was one of the few outlets to report on an April 24 rally seeking the release from prison of Mumia Abu-Jamal. The story included important information on Abu-Jamal, who is serving a life sentence for the 1981 killing of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner.
It noted that the case has 'drawn scrutiny' over claims of police, prosecutorial and judicial bias and misconduct. It cited new evidence released as part of the appeal process, including a note from a key prosecution witness asking the prosecuting attorney for money—the sort of evidence that Johanna Fernandez, a history professor and part of Abu-Jamal’s legal team, notes has in other instances led to a defendant either being set free or getting an immediate new trial. ...
Elite media would have us believe they are engaged in a serious reckoning with the racism of the US criminal justice system, that they care about over-incarceration and prison conditions. And keeping people behind bars just because powerful people want them there, and not due to the merits of their case? Well, that’s what Other Countries do."
-->Read FAIR's analysis of how our media has hidden and distorted the facts of Mumia, one of the longest held political prisoners in the United States. Can this country reform its criminal justice system while Mumia is left to die in prison, the victim of 40 years of institutional racism. Mumia and native American activist Leonard Peltier, imprisoned for over 40 years on another trumped up murder charge, define how this nation treats its most important political prisoners.
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CounterPunch:
"The American, Belgian, British, and South African intelligence agencies plotted Operation Celeste: Hammarskjöld’s murder. South African intelligence used a mercenary company called the SA Institute for Maritime Research (SAIMAR). Prior to the murder, Britain’s MI5 and Special Operations Executive (for which Sgt. Park worked) met with SAIMAR.
Documents, which various authorities have tried to dismiss as forgeries, state: '[United Nations Organization] is becoming troublesome and it is felt that Hammarskjöld should be removed.' CIA Director Dulles 'agrees and has promised full cooperation from his people.' Referring to Hammarskjöld and Lumumba, respectively, the author writes: 'I want his removal to be handled more efficiently than was Patrice.' SAIMAR arranged to blow up Hammarskjöld’s DC-6 plane with 6lbs of TNT. The bomb failed and a contingency plan involved Hammarskjöld’s plane being shot down by a British-Belgian former Royal Air Force pilot, Jan van Risseghem, known as the Lone Ranger.
At the time, Rhodesia was part of the waning British Empire. U.S. Naval Officer, Charles Southall, heard intercepted transmissions in which Risseghem said of Hammarskjöld’s plane attempting to land in Rhodesia: 'I’m going to go down to make a run on it. Yes, it’s the Transair DC6. It’s the plane. I’ve hit it. There are flames. It’s going down. It’s crashing.' Now-declassified cables by U.S."
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/04/25/a-history-of-the-cia-in-congo-zaire/
-->Wouldn't it be news if it turned out that the US and the UK had assassinated a Secretary General of the United Nations? This story only keeps getting worse, with more and more evidence that the CIA and MI6 were behind two killings in the early 1960s, that of of Congo's President Patrice Lumumba and that of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld. Sixty years later and our major media still can't bring itself to admit these murders.
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Common Dreams:
"Scathing Human Rights Watch Report Says Israel Guilty of Apartheid.
The prominent watchdog group's new analysis finds the oppression of Palestinians has reached a 'threshold.' Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that the policies and actions of the Israeli government against the Palestinian people amount to systematic "apartheid" and unlawful persecution that must be stopped.
The accusations related to Israel's actions in the occupied territories (OPT) and within Israel are laid out in a new report entitled 'A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution.' The findings are based on over two years of research and documentation including official government statements, internal planning documents, and interviews."
-->The NYT had to cover this story. But typically it repeated pro Israeli falsehoods, like Palestinians living in Israel are given full citizenship rights.
